Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

D.L. Hughley

stated on July 7, 2024 in a post:

“Anyone on Social Security or Disability should know, Project 2025 totally eliminates all benefits.”

A Social Security card is displayed on Oct. 12, 2021, in Tigard, Ore. (AP)

By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu July 12, 2024

No, Project 2025 doesn’t mention eliminating Social Security and disability benefits

If Your Time is short

Project 2025’s operating document does not mention a plan to cut Social Security and disability benefits.
The document, consisting of policy proposals for Donald Trump to institute if he becomes president in 2025, calls to reform the federal government’s employee pay rate and benefits.
The plan also calls for changes to how veterans disability claims are managed, but it doesn't advocate for eliminating such benefits.

See the sources for this fact-check

Does Project 2025, a conservative plan for a Republican presidency, call for eliminating key welfare benefits such as Social Security and disability support? A viral Instagram post by comedian D.L. Hughley claims this is so.

"Anyone on Social Security or Disability should know, Project 2025 totally eliminates all benefits," the July 7 post said. Similar claims were also on X.

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads, and Instagram.)

Project 2025 is a set of governmental reform and policy proposals that some major conservative think tanks are advocating former President Donald Trump execute if he is reelected in November.

Project 2025’s stated goal is providing "both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration," according to its framers. The Heritage Foundation is leading the project, which lists 100 coalition partners including Liberty University and Turning Point USA.

Instagram posts

stated on June 24, 2024 in an Instagram post

"Hospitals murdered patients” with remdesivir, a drug banned from Ebola trials because of “53% kill rate.”

Project 2025’s plans are contained in a 920-page document called "Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise." PolitiFact reviewed the document and found that it calls for reforms to federal employee pay and retirement benefits, which its authors consider "much more generous" than those in the private sector. The project also calls for changing the Department of Veterans Affairs’ disability benefits structure.

"We talk about reforming the disability claims process at the VA and how it needs to be streamlined and better managed," Heritage Foundation spokesperson Ellen Keenan told PolitiFact.

PolitiFact found no mention of eliminating Social Security and disability benefits in the proposal. The Heritage Foundation and some Republican lawmakers have previously advocated an increase to the Social Security retirement age but even that proposal is not mentioned in the Project 2025 document.

We contacted Hughley for further evidence of his claim but received no reply.

We rate the claim that Project 2025 would eliminate Social Security and disability benefits False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird and Audience Engagement Producer Ellen Hine contributed to this report.